The
pattern is designed to fit in a 6 inch embroidery hoop. If you just
want to stitch the central heart it will be framed nicely in a 5 inch
hoop.

This pattern is for personal and fundraising use only.

Feel free to share the pattern online and to print and distribute copies among your friends, students, local community, etc., but please don't sell the pattern in any form or claim my design as your own.

You're very welcome to sell items you make with this design as long as 100% of the profit goes to the charity / civil rights organisation / etc. that you're raising funds for.

If you download the pattern please consider donating to Black Lives Matter or another anti-racist organisation. If you can't afford to make a donation sign a petition, share resources online, diversify your social media feeds, and talk to your friends and family about how we can speak up and act to support Black people and fight racism in all its forms.

How I stitched my version:

I stitched this pattern in a 7 inch hoop, using four out of the six strands from a skein of stranded black embroidery thread (floss).

I mainly used backstitch, sewing smaller stitches along the curves to create smooth lines.

I stitched three overlapping stitches for each star and two overlapping stitches for each X.

I used French knots for the dots, winding my thread two, three, or four times around the needle to make different sizes (though honestly my French knots are so hit and miss they usually end up different sizes anyway!). I'd recommend sewing the French knots in the centre of the flowers
before you sew the flower petals, to make the knots easier to stitch.

If you’re stitching on white or other pale fabric, adding an extra layer of white fabric, felt, or quilt wadding underneath your chosen fabric will help stop your dark travelling threads showing through from the back.

Sunday, 31 May 2020

I've added a new printable PDF pattern to my shops this weekend: an easy flower pattern you can use to make LOADS of different floral projects!

I've called this pattern "Flexible Flowers" because there are just so many different possible variations to choose from. I think of the basic design as a seed you can use to sew a whole garden of felt loveliness.

I've used this pattern to make and sell hundreds if not thousands of felt flowers over the years - and now you can, too! When you buy any patterns from my shops you have my permission to use them to make handmade
things to sell at craft fairs or online.

The Flexible Flowers PDF is a massive 40 pages long and includes the basic flower tutorial, lots of suggestions for different ways to embellish and use the flowers, plus full-size templates. There are clear step-by-step instructions, lots of photos, and plenty of tips for getting your flowers looking their best.

I've sewn so many flowers with this pattern over the years I really struggled choosing which photos to use for this post!

You can make simple but deliciously chunky flowers from thick wool felt and recycled jumpers...

... and Fire Tones (thus named because Reds, Oranges, Yellows, & Peach/Coral Pinks was just too much of a mouthful!).

If you want a wider mix of colours, you can choose from the Bright Rainbow...

... and the Bold Rainbow, which has much deeper, richer tones though I'm not sure I've fully captured the difference between these packs in these photos! I think I may need to take a photo of the two rainbow packs together for really clear comparison. *Adds that to the To Do list*

I've also put together a pack of squares inspired by the British coast, which I'm calling Coastal Walk:

Then the last pack is Useful Neutrals, which is currently only 10 squares (unlike the other packs which all have 12) because my stockist is out of stock of white and ivory felt and I'm planning on adding those to this bundle as soon as I can get hold of some.

As well as the felt bundles, I've also added a few new crafty supplies to the shop this week. It's been a fun challenge working out the best ways to photograph everything!

... and vanishing fabric marker pens. I use one of these pens regularly in my projects, especially when I'm working with felt and want a guide line for something like a cute smiley face. If I mention an "air-erasable pen" in a tutorial, this is the kind of pen I mean! Some pens in this style only write well on fabric but this felt-tip-style pen is great for fabric and felt, I highly recommend it.

I've also added some gorgeous 15mm wide rainbow ribbon to the shop - the 6mm ribbon was proving so popular I thought I'd get some of this in, too. I'm now selling both ribbons by the metre or in 10 metre reels.

Finally, one of the other tasks I ticked off this week was buying some packaging to use when posting my shop orders. I bought envelopes, etc, of course, but I also stocked up on pretty stripey paper bags. They're so lovely I've popped some in the shop. They're available in blue or sunny yellow, and I'm selling them in bundles ranging from 10 to 100 bags.

As I've mentioned before, my shop is currently set up just to accept orders within the UK because of the effect COVID-19 is having on the post. However, if you're based elsewhere and are happy to wait for your order to arrive, please do get in touch and I can give you a quote for postage and sort the payment out via Paypal.

For crafty updates in your inbox and/or a monthly free pattern subscribe to my newsletter.The current projects are an embroidery pattern for book lovers, plus tutorials for sewing felt peony brooches and a felt swan mask.

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Please Note

Feel free to borrow a photo or two if you're blogging / Pinning / etc my projects but don't repost the tutorials or any templates or patterns. Please always credit me and link back to my blog. Thanks xx

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